


Mercy is the mark of a great man

by Fabulae



Series: Domestic Avengers [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Humor, Humour, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Romance, Sass, author still not a native speaker but currently working on a time machine to fix the issue, just an excuse for some sass&fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 02:02:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6101179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabulae/pseuds/Fabulae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pretty much nothing happens. But there are pop culture references, a bit of fluff, a bit of sass and a side of spicy times (just a sprinkle!). </p><p>It's Tony's birthday and Steve may have found that one gift Tony couldn't buy or build for himself. The team is helping. Tony is trying to get the team to spill the beans and tell him what the gift is. Repulsors play a part as well. Jarvis is best, as usual.</p><p>(Title's a quote from Firefly, for obvious reasons :D)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mercy is the mark of a great man

**Author's Note:**

> This silly story of mine would have never come to live if it wouldn't have been for the brilliant minds of Stony writers all around the fandom; all your stories helped form how I see the characters, what makes them laugh, what they like, how they think. You have all inspired me to finally give my two cents to this amazing pairing. 
> 
> Not canon and the same time canon to every universe.

 

Avengers Towers was buzzing with the energy of a demi-god, a bunch of superheroes and a couple of very lethal humans that hadn’t seen a fight in a while too long; good news for the world, horrible news for Tony Stark that had to find more and more creative ways of avoiding the rest of his strange family and actually concentrate on doing some work; quiet Avengers time meant busy prototyping, testing, and designing time: he was upgrading all of their weapons, armours and possibly uniforms; if he had his way they would all get suited up by Armani but so far only Coulson had been responsive to his idea. 

Bored Avengers, on the other hand, meant needy Avengers. The recreational system and facilities of Stark Tower were top of the range, possibly no place on earth could offer as many entertainments as their home could but, apparently, it wasn’t enough. There was so much time one could spend in the gym, or binge watching _Say yes to the dress_ – Thor and Bruce were big fans. Thor, in particular, tried to cheer up the sad brides from the screen and clapped very keenly when the bride actually said yes to the dress.

It almost looked like they were actively trying to keep him constantly busy. He kind of wanted them out of his way for a while. Easier said than done, thought Tony while Clint was making his way into his workshop with a a sulking Thor behind him. Either Jane left earlier to go on very important Nobel-winning person business, they were out of candy corn. In both cases, he couldn’t handle the worst half of the Killer Twins AND a sulking Thor.

“Jarvis, I am revoking their access”.

“Yes, sir”. 

Tony didn’t even look up form his design when he heard a loud thump and Thor’s weight falling on his couch. 

“Jarvis?”

“Sir.”

“Jarvis, do I need to reset you? Have you fallen prey to a virus?”

“Sir, you revoked Thor Odinson and Clint Barton’s permissions, but sir, you didn’t include Captain Rogers in your request”.

“Wasn’t Steve having a SHIELD meeting somewhere very secret?”

“Sir, Captain Rogers has entered the Tower sixteen minutes…”

“They want to test some theory about your suits; I didn’t bother enquiring about the scientifical foundations behind their enquiry. Just thought you would enjoy the company of your friends; also, Clint said he missed you and wanted to see his dearest mate Tony”.

Tony raised his eyes and locked stares with Captain America, still in full uniform, smiling and grinning like a little child that had just found a lost toy. 

“They should know better than to use boyfriend privileges to get in my workshop. And you should be on my side, Captain”. He was giving Steve his signature “I hate you but I adore you” look that Tony just reserved for Steve and didn’t address Thor and Clint with a suit’s arm in each hand trying to sneak them out of the workshop.

“You two”, Tony said, in a flat tone “whatever you think you are doing: desist; one of you tries to put a hand inside and they make bad things to you, not kill you, but you will wish to be dead.”

The pair, caught with their hands in the jam, dropped the repulsors on the workshop desk and muttered something about being bored to death and Tony not being very nice to them, his dearest teammates.

“Tony”. Steve had that tone. The Captain America disapproves tone, and that look, the hurt seal cub look, a cub that could kill you with his pinky, truth to be told, but still a seal cub. And Tony was awful at being able to resist Steve Rogers with any face on, but the hurt seal cub was his blindspot. 

“Fine, but leave the repulsors alone, kids. Jarvis, keep an eye the bird and the alien’s and revoke Captain Rogers’ entry privileges to the workshop. Now, for you” he turned to Steve that was leaning on the worktop all long defined limbs and perfection and killing every logical thought out of Tony’s brain including the “undermining me in front of our other team members” thought. “Not fair, Rogers. Not fair”. 

Clint and Thor, sniffing cuddles in the air, disappeared like bolts of thunder. Good to know for next time, thought Tony, it’s not like he had any issue with initiating sexual intercourse with his favourite war veteran.

He stepped closer to Steve that extended a hand, Tony took it and kissed it, a brush of lips, a gesture he almost made unconsciously then put Steve’s hand back on the worktop. Handholding and fluffy times could come later though, Tony was a man on a mission now. His grin mutated into a cheshire smile and Steve didn’t have time to enquire what was wrong but his eyes grew a shade darker in a second.

“Jarvis, repulsors on lock Spangles”. 

The red and gold gauntlets went to circle Steve’s wrists literally pinning him on the worktop. Steve let out a stifled laughter mixed with an cry of shock.

“Override Rogers, Steven Grant.” Steve laughed through the command. “Jarvis, let me out”. 

“Tony” Steve was laughing so hard now. A tiny bit turned on as well too.

“Now that I have you here, it’s time for you to talk, Captain Rogers. You have been very elusive lately, talking hush hush with the Killer Twins, having late night rendezvous with Coulson, long chats with Jarvis, and no one would tell me anything. I have tried bribery, honestly, I even offered Clint a ride in the suit, and they all have their mouth shut.”

“It’s a team of spies, Tony, They know how to keep their secrets”:

“You don’t, though, sweetheart. You are the worst liar ever existed, so spill the beans. What did you get me for my birthday?”

Having his hands in a deathly grip, sealed to a metal worktop by a pair of pulsating gauntlets powered by his boyfriend’s arc reactor did not seem to faze Steve very much; the little kid from Brooklyn has certainly come a long way to find himself in a life like this and fitting right into it like he was born to be part of a crazy team of superheroes and dating the craziest of them. He was keeping a very relaxed stance indeed, and he knew he would piss Tony off even more than his silence. 

He smiled at Tony, furrowed his brows a little bit. 

“What birthday?”.

“No sass, Sassypants.”

“Mr. Stark. I am offended”.

“You are walking a fine line, Rogers. I have you here, at my mercy. I can do with you as I please, I will have you sit here and let you watch me eat pizza on your shield; then I can call Natasha, she’s been wanting to sharpen that knives collection of hers on your vibranium for so long.”

Steve stifled a sound of displeasure. Tony knew he hit a sore spot. Everyone loved Steve. No one pranked Steve, ever; he was so whole and good and unaware it was not usually worth the effort, but he was very jealous of his shield and everyone wanted their hands of it as much as they wanted to play with Tony’s suit.

“You wouldn’t dare” breathed Steve, now mildly worried.

“Oh, watch me, Cap. Watch me cook a frittata on it with a repulsor as heat source”.

“You would have to free one of my hands then, to use the repulsor. The great playboy Tony Stark is not taking advantage of Captain America bound and incapacitated? You are really getting old, Tony.”

“Are you trying to distract me with sex, Cap? I must really rubbing off on you”.

Tony smiled his not so secret Steve-smile.

“Is it working?” Steve licked his lips and rolled his hips in a tentative movement, it wouldn’t have looked deliberate to anyone but Tony that knew Steve did not need any sexual innuendo to get his attention or anyone else for that matter. 

“May be”. 

“You have started quite the Civil War there, Captain. It seems to me your are turning all of the Avengers to your side; should I be afraid?”

“You definitely should, Tony. Also, lose the -ing form. I already have them on my side. I already won the war”

“See? You are wrong there. One of them is not quite on your side, and has you captive”. 

Steve smiled, a sweet smile then shifted grinding lightly against Tony, then jumped to sit on the workshop table at the same time crossing his long, very long legs behind Tony and resting them on the curve of his ass. His was a grip of iron, not that Tony would offer much resistance to it.

Tony let out a surprised breath, a chuckled moan escaped his lips before he could stop it.

“Who’s captive now, Anthony?” 

“You, with your all-American hero face, everyone believes you are all good and fair. You are entirely something else, not of which includes fair.”

“We all know who’s the best strategist in the Avengers. I just do what needs to be done”.

“And that includes seducing me to keep me in the dark about my gift?”

“The things I have to do for this country, would you imagine?”

Tony laughed. “Well, I may be won, but I am not going down without a fight and I still have your hands bound”.

“You tell yourself whatever you need to sleep at night, Tony.”

Tony spread Steve’s legs even more coming to align their bodies. 

“Will you ever let me have one, Cap?”

He had hand in Steve’s hair and one on his chest. His face was soft, and his eyes dancing. 

“You have me, isn’t that enough?”. He giggled. He literally giggled, the fucker. 

“You really need to stop watching those shows with Thor, you are going all cheesy on me”.

“Hear, hear the words from the Sap Master himself. On your flight deck you have a sign that says _My copilot is Jarvis but Steve captains my heart_. You are pure teeth rotting molasses when it comes to me, Tony. And I do love getting my fingers all sticky with you”.

“Now, that is just plain sexual innuendo masqueraded as cheesiness with a underlining of sass. I don't’ have anything else to teach you, my young padawan”.

He dropped a light kiss to Steve’s laughing cheek. 

“Then let’s celebrate my graduation.” Steve tugged at Tony’s with his legs to bring the man even closer.

“Yes, let’s”. Steve met Tony’s lips with eagerness. 

 

 

Tony had tried everything. Had offered Natasha to create a nanorobot that would make her truthful to lie detectors; told Clint he could have dogs; to Phil he offered to buy him the entire new collection of Armani and had it tailored for him by the man himself; tried to bribe Thor with Mexican food and a new space centre for Jane and that almost did it but no, Steve had come to the rescue of the Asgardian prince before he could cave in and spill the beans to Tony. Nothing worked so he retired to his workshop and sulked for days.

Then it was the night before his birthday, he was alone at his desk working on a new shield magnet for Steve when he heard Jarvis connect the main monitor to the camera in the rec room; it was past midnight and the team was playing wii on the main tv; no one seemed to care it was technically his birthday already, not even Steve, and Steve was supposed to spoil him a little bit; he knew he was a billionaire impossible to buy gifts for as he usually bought what he fancied and built what he couldn’t buy, but a kiss and a blowjob would have been appreciated. He turned back to his schematics. The team’s playing a white noise in the background keeping him a sour company. Then a noise from the outside of the workshop bolted him on his feet, the lights went dark and the glass doors slid open.

“Jay?”

“Sir?”

“Intruder alert?”

Before his AI could answer he found himself pulled against a strong chest and engulfed by muscular arms that felt quite familiar. “Happy birthday, shellhead”

Steve dropped a very affectionate kiss on the side of his neck then turned him to place a real kiss with tongue onto Tony’s mouth.

“Cap, give him back for a second”.

He heard Clint talk then the lights came back online and the whole team plus Pepper and Rhodey were around him carrying cakes, pop corns, balloons, and gifts. 

“You bastards. Traitors, all of you.” Tony said. Steve was still holding him close to his chest and it was impossible to be even a bit mad when Captain America was holding you like that.

“Shush, old man”. Steve released him from his embrace and directed him to the couch in the workshop. “You’ve been harassing all of us wanting to know about your presents, now that it’s time to get it, so shut up and enjoy.”

“May I get you as my present? You know when you get all bossy you are irresistible?” Tony was trying to get Steve on the couch with him with a mischievous grin on his face. 

“You already have. You had me earlier, you can have me lat…”

“Ewwww, TMI” Clint shouted covering his ears and his eyes at the same time. “Cap, I think you just broke my brain a little bit.”

Steve had managed to have Tony seated in the meantime and powered the tv on.

“Now sit still and enjoy”.

 

On the black screen a short string of words: “footage courtesy of Jarvis” and a note: “sorry, Sir.”

All of the Avengers but Tony were sitting in a nondescript room in Stark Tower, somewhere in marketing where Tony would never set foot to save his life. On the screen of the conference room, just one question. “What do you give the man who has everything?”

Tony was quite touched they had a meeting just to choose his birthday gift, he knew it was an impossible feat to surprise him anyway but he appreciated the effort.

He heard them going through a range of pretty diverse suggestions, from buying him stars (Thor, the sappy god), have Pepper leave him alone from paperwork for a month (Phil, he knew him so well), let him win at ping pong for once (Natasha, one would think where did she find the time to become a master at ping pong whilst being a super spy, learning languages and being always perfectly coiffed, but apparently she did). All had very good ideas, if Tony would put the sarcasm on the side for a bit, he would recognise this team of crazy superheroes knew him quite well; his real birthday gift was – and he would never, ever, EVER, let them know that –well, just to have this family, to have them. 

“He is always giving us something, a home, uniforms, weapons, anything we need. I feel this time we need to give something back”, Bruce, Brucie-bear, thought Tony, was the sweetest of them all.

Then Jarvis’s cam zoomed on Steve, he had that look on his face, the one he got into battle when he found the perfect solution, the perfect strategy, when he already won the war in his mind and of course he would win in reality as well.

“I think I know exactly what to give Tony”.

 

The screen went black. 

A website appeared. One of those was crowdfunding websites. 

“Hit play, Jay”. A very amused Steve asked.

The video went full screen and a uniformed Captain America appeared. He was wearing his good “uniform” the one for public events not the teared well used one he donned on missions. No cowl, though. Guess he needed the full on sea blue eyes and perfect chiseled features superpower he had.

“People of Earth. This is Captain America speaking to you.” Video-Steve paused and Tony grinned. “I am here to talk to you about a matter of the utmost importance. In a a month, the genius, philanthropist, billionaire and hero, Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, will be celebrating his 40th birthday. The team and I went to great length to find him a gift, but what do you give a man that has everything?”

Video-Steve smiled then the image faded into a different setting. It was the Tower, the rec room, most of the team was there: movie night, possibly some six months or so earlier. It must have been very late. Phil and Clint were sitting on the floor on a giant water cushion Clint had found on Ebay and Phil pretended to hate but secretly loved because it had no space for two people so Clint usually perched on him. Nat had commandeered one of the couches for herself, and was raptly watching what was on the screen while practicing a sort of couch yoga only known to her that had the only purpose of let them see how scary she was, Tony thought; Steve and Tony were on the main couch, Steve, his legs too long with feet dandling out, his head in Tony’s lap, Tony with his legs crossed was shouting something at the screen. The audio feed cut in at that moment. 

“And there you go, the best tv show of the last two decades and IT ENDS LIKE THIS. IT GOT CANCELLED. Joss’ finest work, a moderate degree of technical accuracy, and no, stupid network killed it. Even Dollhouse got two seasons, stupid vampire slayer got seven, seven!!”

“Tony, you love Buffy. You are just pissed because you love Firefly more and it didn’t make it, it happens”. Clint’s favourite show was, for reasons unknown to Tony, Supernatural and that show was basically a zombie (he secretly loved it, but no one could know).

“No, Clint, it doesn’t happen. If I were a tv magnate I would have given it a at least six seasons and a movie. At the very least”.

Tony was dead serious about Firefly. Firefly was best. 

“But you are a magnate, you are a billionaire, you could have saved it, bought the rights, yada yada yada”. Clint’s response was immediate and full of logic, he wanted to hug Clint.

“Pepper won’t let me. I have tried everything, I even offered to buy here Jimmy Choo, not Choos, Choo, the man himself” Tony’s tone dropped an octave and his face went sad and pouty. “She said it will just lose money to either me or SI and it doesn’t look in quarter term meetings – I may have tried to bill it to the company as it could be worthy research for space travel. I am a genius visionare, I would know! But she wouldn’t let me”.

 

The screen faded back to black and then to Steve.

“So, people of the Earth, Tony Stark has saved all of us many a time, and he usually does not get much recognition for it; he nearly does not get time off and he is always very busy creating new technology to save the world, and we say he deserves a bit of time off, and the things he enjoys the most, apparently, is this little show some of you may know: Firefly.”

The camera angle changed and Pepper behind her some stats and marketing mumbo jumbo was on the screen. 

“A highly experience team of market researchers has evaluated the Avengers’ request to produce a new series of Firefly as part of SI endeavour to support the arts, their results definitely highlighted a interest; ten years ago it would have been a sure investment but it has been long now and they believe there needs to be a show of faith to support this project. We are behind it, if you are”.

The video cut back again to Steve. 

“You heard the boss. Ms Potts, SI’s CEO has promised the company, or Tony, if I know him well, will foot the bill, but we need for you, fellow citizens of this earth and wannabe Serenity crew, to show your support of the reboot with a token. This time is not money we need, it’s your love of this show; you pledge your support, we put the money”.

The counter was stil running, the number going up and up as the seconds passed. It was at 53 millions now and counting.

The video went black. 

 

“Jarvis, hit us with the stats”. Steve asked the AI while holding a very still Tony’s hand. 

“153 millions clicks in 3 days. 1453000 people reached with social media shares. 15 production companies called in to offer both economic and marketing support. Five majors studios want full world rights to distribute it around the world. Disney wants merch rights and 13 publishing groups have offered to produce a line of extensions and book tie ins, including colouring books and children’s books. Only 5 major newspapers haven’t reported on the story, and only in the US; the Tumblr tag #capformal and #givetonyaspotontheserenity is currently trending; 1345 fan fictions already written; you and Captain Rogers get married on the Serenity on most of them”.

Tony chuckled at his AI trying to bully him into proposing to Steve, and thing is, after this, he might as well have to; the man was a keeper.

“Also, the original cast and crew have already had their agents prepare contracts.”

“Now there is just one thing missing”, cut in Steve. 

Tony was silent, and still. He was having a fangirl moment. He had only two in his life: when he met Captain America the first time, and when he had got him naked.

The doors to the workshop opened and two people slid in, smiling. 

It couldn’t be true. One of them was carrying a laptop, the other a giant bottle of whisky.

Tony was speechless. He just managed to make some unarticulated sounds: “how, what, who…I….can’t, what”. 

“We had Jarvis block any news of this for you. Also, as you may have noticed, the Avengers and I, have been needier than usual and Shield knows you are a genius and you work fast, but didn’t you think it was quite strange for them to ask you a spaceship in 10 days?”

Tony mumbled something like: maybe, but they got the first draft anyway, I’m amazing.

“Now, people” Steve said addressing the two guests “he has the money, you have the ideas. Talk”. He gestured towards Tony. 

For how much Tony wanted to sit down with Joss and Nathan, yes he was on first name basis already with Joss Whedon, even before introductions and have Jay open the “Save the Serenity” folder, he had to do something first. He turned, put his hands on Steve’s shoulder to use as a grip and jumped driving his legs around him. “I don’t want to seem rude but you will excuse me for a minute while I thank my boyfriend in private”. 

As soon as the Serenityset was built he was going to marry this man and he was fucking going to have Captain Malcolm Reynolds officiate it with his copy of Bb8 carrying the rings. 


End file.
